


Toxins

by BridgetteIrish



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Illness, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 20:12:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5756680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetteIrish/pseuds/BridgetteIrish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex is injured in the field and Kara is tasked with making sure her sister recovers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Toxins

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't planned on posting this here, but I'm getting some Tumblr messages that the link isn't working, so this way anyone can read it. This has NOT been beta read. All mistakes are mine.
> 
> From an Anonymous Tumblr prompt:  
> "Can you do something with Kara and Alex of Kara being all protective over an injured Alex and trying to make her rest and stuff?"

“ALEX!” Kara watched helplessly from the sky, twenty feet up, as the alien they were fighting, a bug-like entity with some sort of barbed tentacles, impaled Alex through the shoulder. She watched as her sister fell to her knees, clutching the hole in her shoulder before slumping over, unconscious. 

Kara saw red, and in her rage landed a knockout blow on the bug who had her by the arm. It tumbled from the sky and landed on the ground with a satisfying splat. In a nanosecond she was at Alex’s side. Her heat vision took out the creature that had attacked Alex and she was free to see to her sister’s condition.

Alex’s breathing was shallow and a red pool of blood had begun to form below her ruined shoulder. Kara didn’t waste any time drawing Alex into her arms and taking off for the DEO. She needed to be looked at, and soon.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Alex had awoken an hour after arriving at the DEO, screaming in pain. She’d been sedated and tested. The creature’s appendage had been a toxic barb and had sent poison coursing through Alex’s body. The doctors had removed what they could through blood transfusions and general anti-venoms, but as they didn’t have an antidote for this particular species, they could only go so far.

Alex lay awake, but silent and still, afraid to move for fear of further pain.

“There’s nothing more we can do for her here, Supergirl, the DEO doctor informed her. She’ll be fine in a few days, but the poisoned barb left too much toxin in her body for us to withdraw it all at once. It will have to work it’s way through her system. It isn’t fatal, I assure you. She needs rest and plenty of water. It’s the only way to flush her system.”

Hank placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as Kara stood next to Alex’s bed. She clutched one limp, grey hand in both of hers. “Take her home, Kara. Let her sleep in her own bed. Keep her comfortable and I’ll check in with you every few hours.

Kara nodded, not trusting her voice. She leaned over Alex, stroking her hair, but being careful not to touch her raw, sensitive skin. “Will it be alright if I pick you up to fly you home, or do we need to drive you?”

Alex managed a small smile and a weak squeeze of Kara’s hand. “You know I’d never pass up a good flight.” Her voice was rough, but stronger than Kara expected.

“She’ll likely have fever, chills, possibly convulsions and vomiting. Keep her skin cool and keep her still.” The doctor handed her a small vial with an ominous pink liquid in it. “Give her this in four hours. It will neutralize more of the toxin as her body metabolizes it.”

Kara pocketed the vial and as gently as she could manage, straining every muscle to keep from holding on too tight, Kara gathered her sister in her arms, nodded once at Hank and disappeared down the hall and outside where she took off carefully into the night sky.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alex slept soundly for several hours, waking only when Kara came to pour the vial of sickly pink liquid down her throat. She made a wretched face, let out an impulsive “Dammit, Kara,” and promptly fell back asleep.

When she awoke again, just as dawn was breaking, she was curled against Kara, who sat with her back against the headboard with a cool compress against the back of Alex’s neck. Her skin sensitivity was gone, but had been replaced by violent chills and hot flashes.

“Shhh,” Kara soothed. “You’ve been running a fever for a couple of hours. Try to go back to sleep.”

Alex nodded, but within a moment lifted her head, panic in her eyes. She bolted for the bathroom before Kara even knew what had happened.

The sound of Alex’s heaves echoed through the entire quiet apartment. Kara squeezed her eyes shut, willing her courage back. Kara hated sickness. She hadn’t felt a moment of it since coming to earth, unless you counted her exposure to kryptonite, which was enough. She had never handled Alex’s sickness well, becoming nearly sick herself each time Alex awoke with stomach flu in the middle of the night. But her sister needed her, so she made her way into the bathroom, where a truly pathetic looking Alex Danvers sat on her knees as though paying homage to the toilet.

Kara quickly re-wet the washcloth she’d been using to cool Alex’s fever and laid it gently across the back of Alex’s neck. She drew the ends of Alex’s hair back and away from her face and rubbed slow circles on her sister’s back. The heaves returned, but were short-lived. Eventually, Alex stilled, sat back, and curled like a child in Kara’s lap, her tears drying on her cheeks. “Jesus Christ, kill me.” Alex managed. Kara smiled into her hair and lifted her effortlessly from the floor.

Kara fussed for the next few minutes. Pulling the tiny wastebasket in the corner of her room to the side of her bed, in case Alex got sick again, something she’d remembered Eliza doing when Alex was sick as a child. She forced as much water as Alex would let her down her parched throat, hoping against hope that it would stay down, before leaving the room briefly to call Cat and let her know she wouldn’t be in today.

“Kiera, I need you today. Surely, your grown sister can nurse her own way through a little flu bug. On second thought, you’re probably wildly contagious. I’ll not have you contaminating my building with your sister’s toxins. Best stay home tomorrow too, we’ll manage somehow.”

Kara rolled her eyes and smirked at Cat’s use of the words “bug” and “toxins” but simply said “Thank You, Miss Grant” and hung up.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alex’s fever raged. The sheets were soaked with sweat. Kara soothed her as best she could with ice water to her extremeties and blankets piled on to suppress the chills.

It was late afternoon when Alex stilled almost entirely. Kara checked her breathing. Her heart rate seemed steady and her head was cool to the touch. The fever had broken.

“Oh, thank Rao,” Kara whispered to the ceiling and placed a kiss on the top of Alex’s damp head.

The movement woke Alex, who lifted her head from Kara’s shoulder and looked at her with glassy eyes.

“Good Morning, Sunshine.” Kara smiled. “Feeling better?”

Alex shook her head, but was able to get up and use the restroom, wash her face and change her shirt before crawling back into bed.

Kara handed her a full glass of water and insisted that she drink it. Alex wrinkled her nose. “Doctor’s orders, sis,” she insisted, and Alex obeyed. When she was finished, she put the glass on the bedside table and lay her head in her sister’s lap, where Kara resumed stroking her hair, gently.

“Kara?” The pleading tone came a few minutes later, as Kara was drifting off to sleep herself.

“Hm?” Kara answered half-heartedly.

“Will you sing to me?” Kara smiled and nodded, even though Alex couldn’t see her.

In her clear, high voice, Kara began a Kryptonese lullaby she remembered her mother singing to her when she didn’t feel well as a girl. She felt as much as heard Alex’s breathing even out and her heartbeat slow to the rhythm of the song and when Kara was done singing, she drifted off to sleep too.

+++++++++++++++++++++  
The sky was dark, but moonlit when Kara awoke to an empty bed. No Alex. She then heard banging in the kitchen and bolted from the room.

Alex Danvers stood in her nightclothes, making scrambled eggs in the middle of the night.

“Alex, what the hell are you doing? Get back in bed this instant!”

“I’m hungry!”

“Then you wake me up and I will make you something to eat. Something you actually have a prayer of keeping down. I can’t handle another round of projectile vomiting. Go back to bed and I’ll warm up some soup and crackers.”

Alex pouted, which Kara did not find in the least bit cute. “Kara, I feel fine, I’ll probably go back to work in the morning anyway. I might as well get up now.”

“You will not be going back to work in the morning Alex. I talked to Hank. You’re forbidden from coming in the rest of the week and you’re on light duty until you’ve fully recovered.”

“What!? He can’t do that! Kara, I’M FINE. Look at me, I’m good as new!” With those words, the spatula she’d been wielding fell to the floor and Alex’s knees buckled. Kara was there in an instant to keep her from falling. She stood her upright again and watched as Alex breathed through the dizzy spell. 

Kara snorted. “Yeah, you seem just peachy. Get your ass back in bed, or I’ll call Eliza. You know she’ll fly out here when she hears about the big alien bug that ran you through like a marshmallow on a skewer.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Kara crossed her arms. “Try me.”

Alex considered for a moment, but knowing Kara decided not to push her luck. She turned with a huff and stomped like a toddler back to the bedroom.

Kara cleaned up the kitchen, warmed up some chicken noodle soup and pulled a sleeve of saltines from the cupboard, poured a large glass of cool water and arranged the whole thing on a tray. She opened the bedroom door to find Alex, sprawled on top of the sheets, sound asleep.

Kara smiled and set the tray down. The soup could be heated again later. She spent a few tender moments tucking Alex in more comfortably, pulled a lock of hair off her forehead and left the room.

The End.


End file.
